Julian Assange's father requests Australian govt to help his son

ANI15 Apr 2019, 00:55 GMT+10

Canberra [Australia], Apr 14 (ANI): WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's father has requested the Australian government to bring back his son, who was arrested at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London earlier this week, state media reported.

Speaking to Australian newspaper 'Herald Sun' on Sunday, John Shipton, the father of Julian Assange, urged Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) to step in his son's arrest, who is facing rape allegations in Sweden and extradition charges by the United States government, Sputnik reported.

"DFAT and the prime minister should in a nuanced way do something. It can be resolved simply to the satisfaction of all. There has been some talk in a meeting between a senator and a senior DFAT official to extradite Julian to Australia," the father was quoted, as saying.

According to Sputnik, Shipton, in his interview, expressed that he was shocked to see the manner in which his son was carried out of the Ecuadorian Embassy by British police on Thursday.

"I saw him, the way they dragged him down the steps, the coppers, he didn't look good. I'm 74 and I look better than him and he's 47. It's such a shock. For months and months, he has been living like a high-security prisoner, he can't even go to the toilet. There have been cameras watching his every move," the father said.

Shipton's interview comes two days after Prime Minister Morrison affirmed that Australian-born Assange will not be receiving "special treatment", following his arrest and possible imminent extradition to the US.

Assange was apprehended by the UK police at the Ecuadorian Embassy where he had been putting up for around seven years.

The arrest was made after Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno revoked his diplomatic asylum, claiming that Assange had repeatedly violated international conventions and daily-life rules inside the Embassy's premises.

While Moreno quoted the UK authorities who had promised that they would not extradite Assange to any country where he could potentially face the death penalty, the UK police meanwhile confirmed that the whistleblower was detained "on behalf of the United States authorities".

Following his arrest, Assange, who pleaded not guilty, was taken to a London court and was convicted on charges of skipping bail after an extradition order to Sweden and failing to surrender to the court over a 2012 warrant.

US authorities also alleged Assange of hacking classified US government information and conspiring with Chelsea Manning, a former US Army intelligence analyst, who allegedly provided the whistleblower with a password to government computers. (ANI)